Milan is Italy’s financial centre. The city is renowned for its fashion houses and catwalks, which are comparable to those in Paris and New York, and also for its two football clubs, Milan and Inter.
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Compulsory cultural sights include the world-famous opera house, La Scala, the monumental cathedral, Il Duomo, which in size is only rivalled by St. Peter’s Church in Rome, and the covered shopping street by the cathedral square, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where you can find a selection of fashionable boutiques.
Milan is primarily a trade centre. Here you will find one of Italy’s biggest conference centres, Fiera Internazionale di Milano, which means that the town and its hotels are often booked up with conference participants. Milan is also a huge travel hub, with its two airports, which provide an aerial connection between Milan and Rome, and train stations where trains from south, east, north and west interconnect. Around Milan is a gigantic network of motorway interchanges, leading in every direction.
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Besides its football, Milan is also famous for its horse racing and racecourses, ice hockey, basketball, volleyball and Formula 1 in Monza.
Milan is, like many other big cities, quite polluted, and you have to get to know the city quite well before its charms become apparent. But, not far from Milan’s hectic cosmopolitan centre you can find, to the north, an oasis of exclusive recreational areas on and around the three lakes Lago Maggiore, Lago di Como and Lago di Lecco. Bergamo, whose ancient town centre is one of the most beautiful in Northern Italy, is also close by. Bergamo is home to an ecclesiastical university, and after the Vatican, is the Catholic church’s most important town. The famous improvisation theatre Commedia dell’arte and characters such as Harlequin and Columbine originated here.
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